Toronto is a city full of art initiatives and cultural start-ups. Some last. And, good or bad – some don’t.

Join us Sunday afternoon at 2pm in the 2nd floor galleries of the Gladstone Hotel to hear perspectives from three of this city’s newest art ventures.

While Artbomb, an online auction platform, nears its second birthday (Dec 2013), Afterhours Projects just passed the three-month mark (and its third exhibition). Walnut Contemporary Gallery opened their doors in 2012.

Find out how their models work, what their secrets are and what’s changed over time.

Artbomb

Artbomb is a carefully curated online auction. It is an exciting, proven way for artists to expose – and sell – their work and for collectors to access fresh new talent.

The Artbomb project (www.artbombdaily.com) was started in Toronto and its overwhelming success there prompted expansion across Montreal, Vancouver and Atlantic Canada. New York is the latest city to get the Artbomb treatment.

There are many services that sell art online. Artbomb is the only service in the world that brings a piece of the art world to your inbox every day. This service is ideal for busy professionals who don’t have time to sift through thousands of images online or go to galleries regularly, but want to own original artwork.

Carrie Shibinsky

After working for 20 years at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Carrie wanted to stay connected to the art world and believed that artists lacked vehicles to help them promote and profile their work. Carrie created Artbomb to give artists a fresh new marketing strategy for more exposure. Artbomb has created a new way for busy professionals to connect with original, unique works of art daily

Walnut Contemporary

Walnut Contemporary is a commercial gallery representing cutting edge, professional artists from Toronto and beyond. Located in King West, Toronto, this new gallery has been listed as one of the city’s top ten new galleries by BlogTO and is repeatedly recognized by Now Magazine in their “Must See Shows” listings.

Amanda Chau

Before developing Walnut Contemporary, Artist Director Amanda Chau worked in various galleries and art organizations throughout the past decade, including Programming Coordinator at Struts Gallery, Associate of Media and Development at the Art Dealers Association of Canada, and Assistant Director of Miriam Shiell Fine Art.

//THE ANNUAL// is the Gladstone Hotel’s annual independent contemporary art event, offering an open and fertile ground for engaging and emerging practices. Over the course of four days, // THE ANNUAL // brings together artists, curators, and collectives to present new work and site-specific installations.